Document temporarily removed due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

IPKat reports on the article of the Dutch newspaper, de Volkskrant, focusing on the latest suicide at the EPO:

"Merpel urges the Administrative Council (AC) to act, and to act quickly. Discussions about whether the Office has immunity from employment law or is exempt from the prevailing standards of employee care throughout the EU are not only immaterial, they are repugnant in the present circumstances. Each AC delegate should take individual responsibility to ensure that the next time such a personal tragedy occurs, nobody thinks it newsworthy and nobody links it to the EPO as a place of employment."

The next demonstration will take place on Tuesday 15 September, starting at 12.00h from the Pschorrhöfe complex in Munich.From there the demonstrators will march to the local Labour Inspectorate, Gewerbeaufsichtsamt (Heßtraße 130).

In a letter addressed to the Gewerbeaufsichtsamt, SUEPO describes the current climate in the Office and the purpose of the demonstration.

De Volkskrant (printable version) reports on the fifth suicide since 2012 at the EPO and the persistent refusal of Mr Battistelli to let the Labour Inspectorate enter the premises.Similar articles were published inDe Telegraaf (1 ,2),HR Praktijk,FOK!andDe Morgen.

Translations in English, French and German are available by scrolling through the document. The article was also published in the paper version of 10 September 2015.

Document temporarily removed due to threats of reprisals from EPO management. SUEPO is taking appropriate action to counter the threats.

SUEPO sent a letter to the delegations to inform them of the suicide of an EPO colleague. It is the fifth suicide at the EPO in 39 months, and the third one in Patent Administration (DG2). The Central Staff Committee (CSC) already sent letters on this topic on 5 December 2013, 16 September 2014 and 17 April 2015. These letters are still left unanswered. A copy of the latest letter can be found here.

Paul Beckett from Quinn Legal is a lawyer concerned by the plight of EPO staff and has independently assessed the applicability of fundamental rights in the internal workings of international organisations, and the EPO in particular. This document reflects his legal opinion, which may be taken into consideration in further legal work.

The Office continues to filter emails sent to EPO staff and containing the word SUEPO in the subject. A SUEPO lawyer addresses Mr Battistelli by pointing out the legal implications and requests the end of the filtering. A copy of the letter can be found here.

AMBA, the Association of the Members of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO), has launched an online questionnaire on reforms of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO:

"The structural reform of the BoA is very important to the status of the European patent system as a whole. In our view, it deserves wider debate and consultation than it has received so far, especially amongst users and practitioners."

AMBA's own proposal for reform can be found here.

A SUEPO lawyer addresses Heiko Maas and informs him of the latest reforms and developments at the EPO.His letter is a follow-up on his earlier letter of March 2015.A copy of the letter can be found here.